Toddlers pulled out alive after Mumbai building collapse

Lucky escape: An unidentified child who survived the collapse recovers at a hospital in Thane.

AFP: Punit Paranjpe

Two toddlers have been pulled alive from the rubble of an apartment building that collapsed in the Indian city of Mumbai.

At least 45 people were crushed to death when the seven-storey apartment block caved in on Thursday evening, local police say.

Rescuers are continuing to search through the rubble using diggers and steel cutters, after pulling out two children a day after the collapse.

At least 15 children and seven women were among the dead, while another 70 people were injured.

The building in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai was illegally built and police are blaming the developers for the deaths.

Local police commissioner KP Raghuvanshi said his force had registered a case of death caused by negligence against the builders.

"There are two builders and we are looking for them," he said.

The local civic administration has launched an investigation into the incident and is set to inspect other new structures recently been built in the area.

"The building was built in about 16 weeks on forest land, obviously illegally," a spokesman from the Thane municipal corporation said.

"There was no question of getting permission."

Authorities says they had twice warned the builder that action would be taken to demolish the construction.

Many of the victims in Thane are believed to be migrants who had come to Mumbai to work on building sites.

Often, their wives and children to live on-site with them.

Mohammed Anwar, 36, witnessed the building fall down while his father-in-law working inside.

"I saw the building collapse like a pack of cards," he told local reporters.

Building collapses are common in India, where a booming economy and rising real estate prices have led to many unauthorised multi-storey structures to be built on the outskirts of cities and towns.

In February, the collapse of a flyover bridge being built at Mumbai's main airport killed three people and injured another seven.

In one of the worst such accidents of recent years, 69 people died and more than 80 were injured in November 2010 in New Delhi where a residential building under construction collapsed, trapping families in the lower floors.